Audit

Several our customers have been surprised when presented with a formal request for a software audit.

This is a routine behaviour by the big software companies, and Microsoft have been very active in New Zealand recently, working their way through their list of customers and imposing audit processes to ensure software licensing of the targeted company is compliant.

As most companies now have a mix of Cloud, Volume, OEM, and legacy licensing, there can be some work involved in getting an accurate handle on what you own, and correctly presenting this information back to the Microsoft auditors.

We recommend that companies regularly perform internal software audits, and just don’t wait until they receive the formal software audit request. Making internal audits a priority will help you spot and resolve licensing inconsistencies before they are uncovered during a formal audit process and become expensive problems.

Some of the biggest licensing challenges happen when a company is growing at a fast pace and expanding. It’s often too easy to assume that you will get around to making sure that all the new hires are using software that is complying. Auditors will look for this “soft spot”, and you should expect them to retrospectively bill you for any past non-compliance.